


Losing An Illusion

by ClaraRabit



Series: Losing An Illusion [1]
Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Medical Torture, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-09-11 12:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8979043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaraRabit/pseuds/ClaraRabit
Summary: "Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth." ~Ludwig Börne	After a girl with odd eyes is found on the side of a round and taken to a police station, a secret is discovered and new enemies are revealed. First, though, the team has to figure out what to do with a girl who has been through far too much.	Tags to be added, since I don't know quite where this is going yet.





	1. If You Think You're Free

    [Chapter Title Quote: “If you think you’re free, there is no escape possible.” ~Ram Dass

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    Lights Out was signaled by the falsely-happy way Papa said “goodnight” over the speaker in her room and the mechanical noise that signaled the chain going from her collar to the wall would pull her to her cot. This had been the routine for her entire life, so the girl didn’t fight it. The machine in the wall was a lot nicer about leading her than anyone else who had ever had to.  
    She lay down and closed her eyes, hearing the soft click of the chain being locked in place and the camera shutting down for the night. Neither of her fathers wanted to watch her sleep. Papa might have left the camera on just to be safe, but Father slept through his shift watching her anyway. She waited for a bit, just to be safe, before she continued clawing at the already-weak spot in the only link in the chain that she could comfortably reach. It broke quietly enough and that was the last thing between the blonde and her attempt at freedom.  
    She unhooked the broken metal and wadded up her blanket to make a small cloth dummy, placing that, the end of the broken chain, and her nearly-flattened pillow under the cot. With that done, she strode to the metal panel she had calculated would open to the vent system and removed it carefully, climbing into the small opening and putting the panel back almost exactly how it was before crawling in the direction that would certainly lead outside.

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    The large man grumbled as he strode to the metal door, his attempts at avoiding having to wake the useless kid up today having failed. As he slid the frustratingly breakable keycard into the slot in the wall and waited for the door to slide open, he tapped his foot impatiently. When the light hit the empty cot, he let out a sigh and picked up his radio.  
    “She’s under the bed again. Unless you want me to beat her ass, you’re dealin’ with it.”  
The response he got was a hissing sigh, but heard the fuzzy bastard get up off his ass anyway. Took him a hell of a long time to get down there, though, but at least he fuckin’ showed up.  
    “Sweetie,” he called in that annoying fake-niceness he used on the stupid kid, “are you hiding under the bed again, Victoria?” He swept his tail under the bed to pat her head like he usually did, but he froze and the air changed. With a swift pull, he tugged the blanket from the floor, and the end of the broken chain followed it. The larger man looked over his shoulder.  
    “Sonofabitch.” he growled.

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    Bare feet padded softly on dew-coated grass, the dirt and dust on them mixing with the liquid. She pulled a few sticks out of her long, tangled blonde hair, brushed a bit of the dirt off of her shorts, and shielded her eyes from the increasing light.

    The sun was rising, and it was the most beautiful sight Victoria had ever laid eyes on.

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    “I WANT EVERYONE ON SEARCH! BRING HER BACK IN PIECES IF YOU HAVE TO, DAMMIT!” the large, intimidating man screamed orders at the crowd of armor-clad lackeys, his boots thudding with the force of his rage. On his way out of the building, he felt someone grab his sleeve and nearly skewered the bastard only to turn to his dumbass associate.  
    “We need her alive, Cecil. I put too much work into that girl for your men to chop her up.”  
    “You couldn’t give half a shit about that good-for-nothin’ brat and you know it, Azazel. Playin’ Good Cop when she doesn’t follow orders don’t mean shit.” He snarled back, swatting the demon away like an annoying bug. “Find her before the dogs do, and I might go easy on her.”

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    Victoria kept running until she reached a road, a trip that felt like hours from the middle of the wilderness. The head-start she managed to get wouldn’t be much with the people she knew were going to be looking for her. The noise and light were starting to make her head hurt, and she was so dizzy from not eating or drinking for however long. She barely heard the screech of tires, and when she realized a car had stopped in front of her she felt her heart skip.  
    “Oh my lord, Rick, you almost hit that girl!” she heard a woman yell, and managed to calm down. It was normal people, just normal people. The lady opened her door and stepped out a bit, but the runaway was having trouble seeing her.  
    “Carol, get back in the car.” came a man's’ voice, but he was quickly shushed.  
    “Rick, look at her! She looks like she’s been in the woods all night!” The woman, Carol, walked forward a bit, offering a hand to show she meant no harm. “Dear, are you alright? Are you lost?”  
    Victoria shook her head, not knowing which question it was an answer to, but the stranger seemed to decide it was to the former when the girl started swaying unsteadily. With a silent order for the man to get out of the car and help her, Carol moved forward to steady the blonde; she noticed the flinch back when she touched the girl, though, but not much else was done to resist.  
    “Help me get her in the car.”  
  
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    [I was having trouble thinking up a name for Victoria’s other “Dad” since I tend to operate on the idea that Wolverine and Sabertooth have the same dad but I couldn’t find a name for the life of me. My friend/proofreader decided on Cecil, so blame her.  
    If you have any suggestions on improvements I can make, I'd be happy to hear them! I know I'm not a very good writer, but I'll try my best!]


	2. No Matter Where You Go

[Chapter Title Quote: “No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life in the confines of your head.” ~Terry Josephson]

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It was a quiet ride to the next town, not much other than a few unanswered questions from Carol about where Victoria was from, what had happened to her, and how long she had been walking in those woods. At some point the woman gave up and switched to talking quietly to the man in the driver’s seat, both adults assuming that the girl in the back seat wouldn’t hear them if they whispered.

Victoria let her mind shut off so that it felt more like she was watching a feed through a video camera that she didn’t care about than actually seeing what was in front of her.

The couple stopped at a police station in the closest town, Rick seeming to have agreed to at least hand her off to someone who could help her, however begrudgingly he did so, and helped her out of the car and described to the policeman at the desk how they had found her. Another officer, seemingly more important, led Carol and Victoria into her office so that the later could sit down. She might have asked some questions, but ultimately just gave the girl a blanket and sat down at her desk.

At Rick’s insistence, Carol left with a worried expression on her face. Once the two were gone, the police director sighed and picked up her phone to make a very important call.

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Professor Xavier rounded up a small group at the suggestion of Stacy Dennings, a long-term acquaintance of his and the police director in a small town in Georgia. He’d been asked to bring a group that was non-threatening enough, so that they didn’t startle the girl she had loosely informed him of, but could still help in a fight if need be.

The telepath had ultimately decided to bring Jean, Kurt, and Logan on the trip, the last of whom suggested they bring Laura for “the experience.”  
In a few hours, they were being lead to Mrs. Dennings’ office and the officer that had met them at the door warned them to try not to startle the poor girl; That she looked like she’d been through a lot, and seemed a little jumpy. Dennings opened the door for them a few moments later and stepped to the side to let the group in.

They could barely see the girl on the couch. She was so wrapped up in blanket that only her matted blonde hair was visible. She wasn’t shaking and her breathing was even, though it was hard to determine if that was a good sign or a bad one.  
Before the director could close the door, however, one of the officers in the main room called for her.

“Boss, this guy here is asking about a kid that sounds kinda like the one that couple found. Says he’s her dad, and they’ve been looking for her.” the officer said, indicating to the tall, well dressed man next to him. As hopeful as the man seemed to look at the mention of a girl fitting the description of his daughter, he had an unpleasant gleam to his eyes that Mrs. Dennings didn’t trust.

“I’ll be with you in a second. Just wait there, sir.” she told him, finally closing the door. The distrust was plain on her face as she peeked through the curtains of her office window.  
“Do you not believe him?” the professor asked, looking between the director and the bundle of blankets on the couch.  
“Someone missing a daughter doesn’t tap their foot and check their watch in the middle of a police station,” she responded, stepping away from the glass, “and he doesn’t live here. You don’t look for your missing kids in other towns’ stations.”

“What is he doing here, then?”  
Just then there was a panicked shout from the main room, and a loud bang against the door.

“Seems more like he’s tracking her down.”

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[Sorry I’m late posting this. I had a lot to do over the holidays. However, from now on, I will try to post new chapters on saturday or sunday. I’ve got a treat for you guys this update though, as my proofreader friend wrote a little side story that I’m gonna post separately in just a second!]


	3. Can't Do It Alone

Chapter Title Quote: “You have to do it by yourself, and you can’t do it alone.” ~Martin Rutte

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    “Sweatheart,” called the man on the other side of the door, sounding more like he was telling a dog it’s stupid in a happy tone of voice than talking to a person, “You’re in a lot of trouble, you know!”

    Everyone in the room was braced for a fight, and in the matter of a few seconds a number of things happened. The door was forced open, the girl on the couch leapt from her ball of fabric and behind the desk, and someone punched the man in the face the moment he was in sight.

    There was a pause in the chaos after that, allowing everyone to process what had just happened. The first piece of information was that Mrs. Dennings was the one who threw the punch. The next was that the girl now behind the desk was hissing. And the third was that the man who had previously been on the floor had disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

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    The low growling from behind the police director’s desk grabbed everyone's attention after the entire ordeal was over. Stacy hurried around the furniture, cooing reassurances and trying to calm the girl

    She was shaking now, and her long blonde hair looked a bit puffier than it was before, but the two things that stood out most were the long, fluffy tail wrapped around the girl's leg and her eyes. Her irises were an orangeish-yellow, with cat-like pupils, but her pupils were a bright yellow instead of the normal black.

    The policewoman grabbed the blanket from the couch and wrapped the poor girl in it, gently leading her back to the couch. Once she was sitting down again, she curled back up into the ball she had been in before. All attempts to interact with her for the next hour were met with growls and hisses, and a few swipes for anyone who tried to touch her.  
After a much needed break to get lunch and calm down, at the insistence of the professor, the group tried to figure out a way to approach the situation that didn't involve the suggestions of letting someone else handle it or “knocking her out and dealing with it later”.

    As the rest of the group was discussing their course of action, Laura slipped away with a bit of her lunch kept safely in a bag. She headed towards the office and opened the door slowly. She entered the room with her hands in plain sight for the other girl to see and only went as close to the couch as she had to in order to put the bag of food down.

    Nothing happened at first, but after a few minutes of stillness, the less-trusting of the two reached a hand out from the cocoon of fabric, towards the offering. She picked it up and set it on the couch in front of her without breaking eye contact. Nodding, Laura left the room and dodged the questions about what she had been doing.  
No one else noticed the discarded bag in the bin when they re-entered the small office, or the crumpled up burger wrapper on top of it. If they had, they might have had an explanation as to why the blonde on the couch was much less tense, though no less wary.

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[This was surprisingly the easiest chapter to write.  
I don't know if the description of Victoria is clear enough, so please tell me if you need me to add the concept art for her. I have some that I can add onto this authors note if anyone needs it.]


	4. Begin With Doubt

    Chapter Title Quote: “To believe with certainty we must begin with doubting.” ~Stanislaus I of Poland

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    Xavier was the first to move past the sudden change, staying at a cautious distance and extending a hand for the girl to shake. Instead of taking the hand. She looked at it curiously.  
    “Ego autem non intellego. Quid agis?” She said quietly, lifting her focus to his face instead of his hand.  
    “Is she … Is she speaking Latin?” Mrs. Dennings asked, absolutely shocked. She only received a slow, surprised nod from Kurt. Victoria looked around the room before looking back at the man in front of her.  
    “I asked what you're doing.” She explained, lowering her head like she expected someone to be angry. She seemed surprised when the professor smiled and explained what a handshake was, offering one again. She took it this time, though very carefully, and the old man smiled.  
    The professor introduced everyone in the group after he introduced himself, trying to ease the tension in the room. All that work was undone when he asked her name, though. She fidgeted, looking around the room.  
    “Victoria.” she replied, and her eyes immediately jumped to the back of the group. The professor turned and saw that most of the group looked defensive or worried. When he turned back to the girl, she seemed to be drawing back into herself and once again becoming closed off to other people.  
    “Can you all leave the room for a minute?” the wheelchair-bound man asked the group politely, feeling that this might go smoother if the girl felt less surrounded.  
    Once Mrs. Dennings had shooed everyone from the room and shut the door behind her on her way out, the child focused on the man in front of her with untrusting eyes. Victoria didn't know what she expected, but it certainly was not the calm smile she received.  
    “I’m sorry for that. Your name is very close to the name of someone they don't all get along with.” He explained, knowing their immediate conclusions. With what had transpired today, though, he couldn't say that they were completely unfounded. The girl let out a quiet ‘oh’, lowering her head.  
    The professor explained why he was there and offered Victoria a place at his school, promising safety and support. As he talked, he noticed that she stole glances at the shuttered window of the small office, her attention divided. When asked what was on her mind, the teen tensed and seemed to be calculating the best response, whether it was true or not.  
    “Nothing. I thought I heard something.”

    He could tell she had settled on a lie, but didn't push her for the truth. In the end, she said she would at least go see the school, not agreeing to anything yet, and she was assured that she didn't have to stay if she didn't want to.  
    Mrs. Dennings waved them goodbye as they left the building, asking quietly to be kept informed about the poor girl.  
    As they started on the short walk to the jet, Victoria hoped she had made the right choice and stared into the shadows, knowing that someone would be watching from them.

 

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    [I'm super super sorry I'm so late passing this! I hit a plot wall and it took a bit to get past, but to make up for the delay I'll add two new chapters to the spinoff sorry "Losing The Plot"  
    By the way, my proofreader now has her own account! I'm gonna be adding her as a coauthor for LTP in just a sec, so check out her stuff! She's super cool!]


	5. Stumble

Chapter Title Quote: “A stumble may prevent a fall.” ~English Proverb

 

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   The trip from Georgia to New York State was silent and uncomfortable, making it feel much longer that it actually was. The teen they had picked up opted to sit on the floor, as far away from everyone else as possible, and refused to speak to them. The amount of relief they all felt when they were able to leave the confined space was astounding.

   Victoria seemed ready to run or fight the moment she needed to, and that didn't seem to change when she was free to roam around. It was like she expected something bad to happen.

   Jean led her to a room they'd had ready for her, searching through a pile of clothes for ones that looked like they'd fit. The younger girl seemed confused until she was led to a bathroom where the bath had already been drawn.

   She wasn't visibly uncomfortable at first, but shook her head when told to get in. Laura blocked her from backing out of the room until they could convince the girl to get cleaned up, and if they had noticed the shaking of her shoulders before Jean typed her head back to wash her hair, they might have kept the calm distrust they'd managed to achieve.

   The moment the blonde's head was mostly submerged, she flinched back and ended up entirely under the water. For a second it looked like she was switching between seeing what was actually in front of her and seeing something far away, and then she started flailing. They had to pull her up when she started to breathe in the soapy water and hyperventilate.

   Once Victoria was out of the water and wrapped in a large towel, the shaking was a lot more noticeable. She stayed quietly rambling in Latin and curled up in the far corner in her distress.

   It was only after they'd managed to get her back to her room and asleep that someone found the deep scratches on the side of the bathtub that she'd left.

 

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[I swear I tried to post on time. Stuff just came up.

I'll probably have last week's chapter up in the next few days, and I promise I won't write another garbage fic that I'm not gonna upload until I'm back on track with this one.]


	6. What One Is

Chapter Title Quote: “One does what one is, one becomes what one does.” ~Robert Von Muslin

 

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  After a few days, it became apparent that Victoria didn't seem to sleep. Instead, she paced the room in a small square as though she were used to counting the steps around a much smaller room. It was a struggle to get her to eat, too, but they quickly learned that she would usually accept meals if Laura brought them.

   It evolved into leaving her room at the other girls request, and even going on walks outside at the shorter girl's insistence. During one of the regular talk sessions the professor insisted Victoria have with him, he asked in as vague a way as possible why she agreed to most of the brunettes requests. Her answer was an equally as vague shrug.

 

   The first problems became apparent when she was allowed into the training room. They tried to start her off easy, if only just to gauge her abilities. The computerized drones were too easy for her, the obstacle courses were like a jungle gym to her. After an hour, Logan had gotten sick of watching the kid tear through simulations and decided to go down there himself.

   He hadn't entirely counted on her freezing up at the start, or that she didn't know the meaning of ‘restraint’ once she'd started moving again. Not only was the tiny girl quick, both physically and mentally, she was terrifyingly ruthless. The old man had only avoided major injury because Laura had stepped in.

   It was jarring to see almost all of the murderous momentum stop at just a simple command. Like Victoria had been pulled to a halt by invisible strings.

 

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[I didn't leave this off too early. I just wanted to save a big character point reveal for next chapter.

So look forward to that.  (｡•̀ᴗ-)/)°.✧  ]


	7. Eventually

Chapter Title Quote: “The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer." ~Edward R. Murrow

 

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   Victoria avoided almost everyone after the incident in the training room. She didn't seem to be obeying Laura's suggestions like commands anymore, either, which couldn't entirely be considered a good thing.

   One of the times she came downstairs to eat was, unfortunately, the same day Victor came back from who knows where, as had been a habit since he had switched sides. The moment the two made eye contact, there was silence so thick you could choke on it. He marched forward with a low growl until someone tried to get between them, the small girl’s tail puffing up as she hissed.

   “ _What the fuck is that thing_?” Victor demanded to know, trying to push Logan aside. Laura stood in front of Victoria defensively.

   “Don't talk about her like that.” she demanded. With a scoff, he pushed the two out of the way and grabbed the tinier blonde's wrists, skilfully avoiding the swipes of her claws.

   “I know you're not as stupid as the runt, kid, so I don't know how the hell you missed this.” He pressed hard on Victoria's knuckles and glared at the shining metal on her claws. “Reaks of metal and pain. Thought your nose was better than that.”

   It wasn't much of a secret that the large man was allergic to the metal that coated the other two’s bones, making it a reasonable theory that his copy was too.

   Victoria managed to scratch the side of his face as he turned to look at Laura, pull her hand free, and retreat to her room after a few more minutes of hissing despite attempts from multiple people to stop her.

 

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[ ~~It's not a late upload if I haven't gone to sleep yet.~~

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I didn't keep this surprise as well hidden as I thought I did. I warned you in the first chapter that I'm not a good writer tbh.]


	8. Announcement

[Hey guys.

So, sorry about getting behind on this fic. I've been reading back through it and just kinda lost the momentum with it, so I'm thinking I might rewrite it a bit so that I can get the direction back to where it was supposed to be.

This chaper will be deleted once I have my shit together and start updating the chapters.]


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